The Athens were ruled by a council of only nobles. They did not have any written laws, they only had the nobles that presided over the land and made all the rules. Unfortunately, the nobles did not always agree which caused arguments between them.…
Solon was an Athenian Statesman and was known as one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece. He was born in 630 B.C. and passed away in 560 B.C. He was a noted poet who introduced a new more humane law code, ended exclusive aristocratic control of the government and substituted a system of control by the wealthy (Britannica/Solon). Solon was of noble descent but moderate means. He may have been a merchant as the tradition states and his travels and economic measures suggest. When Solon was alive in 6th century it was a troubled time for…
If an Athenian citizens wanted to participate in their government by serving as public officers or as jurors in court cases, they must be selected. Jurors were chosen by lottery and were paid for their service. To serve as public officers, a citizen had to be 30 years old or older and he had to have the level of wealth required to work for the office. To be the top executive posts in the Athenian system, such as the ten annually elected generals, someone must be from the wealthy Athenians or aristocrats. Men of the lower financial classes were allowed to serve as a minor officials, and as many as 900 men were selected on a yearly basis for addition to hundreds of men who served in jury pools.…
Apart from who they allowed to be citizens, their ways of election were also different. In Athens, they had election by lottery meaning that every person had an equal chance. This was fairer than Rome's inheritance of their position in the Senate, but it was completely random, and the most ineligible person could be chosen. In order to make important decisions like laws or ostracisms, there needed to be a minimum of six thousand. Rome only needed three hundred to form the senate.…
Since Ancient Greece was spread out into the individual city-states, it forced them to each have their own forms of government. Their governments ranged from military rule to dictatorship to democracies. In Athens under the rule of Pericles, their government was a democracy. Any man over the age of 18, who wanted to, could be involved and got paid for being part of the government like people do today. This influenced our government because although we do nat participate directly in day to day government functions, we participate indirectly. Athens also had a jury, who in trials made the final decisions, like we do today. You also had the magistrates, who went out ald enforced the laws like we have police officers do today. Ancient Greeks have…
Plato was a famous Greek philosopher and mathematician from Athens that is now well known throughout the world. He lived from 427 B.C.E. to 347 B.C.E. He’s famously known for being Socrates’ student and the teacher of Aristotle. He has many writings that explored justice, beauty, and equality as well as containing discussions in aesthetics, political philosophy, theology, cosmology, epistemology, and the philosophy of language. His writings were highly influenced by Socrates as he would convey and expand on the ideas and techniques of his teacher. Plato founded the Academy which was the first institution of higher learning in the Western World and offered subjects like astronomy, biology, mathematics, political theory, and philosophy. Plato…
In the 5th century, the capital city of Greece, Athens, when through a period of transformation in which it took a major shift forwards in its change in political structure, upwards economic prosperity, and cultural and artistic blooming. This period was called the Golden Age of Athens. This golden age would later be eponymously called The Age of Pericles, after the politician and general who rose to power during that time. It was during this century in Ancient Greece where Athens is the centre of attention. This new age was of even greater prosperity, in culture, in the arts, in social innovations, in its military, in developing democracy to its classical form it is known today.…
In 5th and 4th Century Athens unrestricted access to the legal system, as to other areas of political life, was the prerogative of the male Athenian citizen who had come of age. To what extent this unrestricted access to justice was extended to metics and slaves is open to debate however. Before I begin the main body of my essay I intend to lay down my understanding of metics and slaves in Athenian society before assessing specific legal cases regarding their access to justice. Firstly it is important to remember that resident male foreigners though denied all other political rights, such as being a member of the assembly, had almost unlimited access to the judicial system in Athens although modern scholars still disagree about whether metics…
Athenian democracy was made up of three important institutions. The first was the ekklesia, the boule, and the dikasteria. The ekklesia made decisions about war and foreign policy, wrote and revised laws and approved or condemned the conduct of public officials. The boule was a group of 500 men, 50 from each of ten Athenian tribes, who served on the Council for one year. The boule met every day and basically dictated how the entire democracy would work. The dikasteria, was more than 500 jurors that were chosen by lot from a pool of male citizens older than 30.…
Modern law and government have been influenced by classical Greece and Rome in many ways. To begin with, Rome and Greece influenced their laws and government when Greek philosophers began to teach in universities all around the world. By teaching in universities, this spread knowledge of all over the world. Another way law and government spread to other countries and colonies is that Greece is a big country so every so often people would migrate to Greece in hopes of a new start, which lead them to later on practice and know the Greek law and government. Ancient Rome made up a set of laws called the twelve tables. These so called twelve tables were made to help bind amongst the people. These laws where also spread when people migrated into…
determines what it believes is the truth (Family Friendly Jury Duty, 2013). Juries were first introduced in 1215 by King John through the Magna Carter. The Magna Carter was a document that King John was forced to sign by his subjects the Feudal Barons and it was meant to limit his power by law and to protect their rights. One of the articles…
As Americans, we are given the right to a jury trial, one of the most important freedoms that out judicial system has to offer us. A jury consists of anywhere between 6 and 12 registered voters who determine whether a person is guilty or innocent in the act of crime that they are being accused of. Not only do they possess this power in a trial, but they may also judge the laws themselves and whether or not is perhaps unconstitutional, unfair, or cumbersome, in which case they can declare the defendant, the person accused of the crime, not-guilty. Their responsibility is heavy and their power enormous in the outcome of a trial. It is a way of distributing the power so that not just one person has total power, and also allowing society to be involved with their government because the jury acts as the conscience of our society.…
In both stories the author portrays a sense of horror to the reader. “The Fall of the House of Usher”, presents a creepier mood and is in the Gothic Literature genre. Gothic Literature is a genre that is represented by dark and gloomy mood. It is characterized by elements such as tortured characters, dramatic language, remote settings, and violence. “House Taken Over”, on the other hand presents a calmer mood through the actions of the characters and is in the genre of Magical Realism. Magical Realism is a genre that has more to do with fantasy than it does with fear. The differences between the two genres can explain the different attempts from the authors to portray fear to the reader.…
In the United States of America, the criminal justice system is based on the adversarial system or common law system. An adversarial trial allows the accused or defendant to be given a fair chance to prove his or her innocence. The Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution states that the defendant is to be given a fair chance to oppose the prosecution, have witnesses to help with his or her defense, face and question the complainant, and for his or her case to be heard by a group of people who are unbiased and impartial. This group is known as the trial jury.…
This puts the power into a mass collective of people instead of one leader. The guarantee of a trial also ensures that people cannot be put in jail without first getting to plead their case. Our judicial system requires that you are innocent until proven guilty, and having a large jury ensures that one person cannot be the one who dictates your fate. One example of why this is so effective can be seen by taking a look at colonial America. When provided a jury at his case, John Adams proved that British soldiers were not guilty of murder. This was shocking. Although these soldiers were hated by the people and the judges of the town, the jury proved them not guilty. This scenario may have panned out differently if only one leader was to decide their fate. By providing people with a jury, this separates power unto a group of people to eliminate any chance of…